Noel Sales Barcelona reports from the Philippines

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Rescue 550,000 new graduates from joblessness, prexy bets told

Antipolo City, April 10, 2010—Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino challenged presidential aspirants to present a clear action plan on the 550,000 new graduates that will enter the workforce this summer.

Palatino said that his fellow youths have been tired of promises and that they need a clear-cut solution on the problem of joblessness plaguing the country.

“Based on a study, recently released by the independent policy think-tank Ibon Foundation, it shows that only 30 percent or three out of 10 graduates were able to find jobs after graduation, the rest will remain jobless for a period of time,” the 29-year old solon, who is running for a second time in Congress, said.

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), there are about three million Filipinos who are jobless; most of them are in 15-24 year-old age bracket.

“For the last nine years, our new graduates have been promised at least one million jobs every year but we have not seen a significant rise in employment. All statistics depicting an improvement in our employment rate are either misleading or short-lived,” Palatino said.

Even the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry cannot absorb the new graduates. Palatino revealed that only 50,000 jobs are made available, by the BPO companies to our new professionals.

“Because of the lacking opportunity, the only option left for our new graduates is to leave the country and work abroad in professions that have little or nothing to do with their degrees. This is the sad reality in the employment crisis; our bright and competitive graduates are being pushed to go abroad when they can do so much more for the country,” he said. (Noel Sales Barcelona)